In digital broadcast, a variety of information contents using data broadcast except moving images and audio sounds are supplied during broadcasting. The user can obtain information contents by making a digital broadcast reception apparatus display a data broadcast window on a television set, and manipulating remote controller buttons while viewing the screen.
FIG. 2 shows an example of data broadcast in a cooking program. While procedures of cooking are broadcast in moving pictures and audio sounds, the cooking recipe information is supplied on the data broadcast window. This cooking program is a program-synchronized interactive cooking program.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a remote controller used in a digital broadcast apparatus. The user presses a d button on the remote controller to call a data broadcast window. The user then can confirm the cooking recipe window as in FIG. 2. The user presses the d button again to restore the previous moving image window from the data broadcast window state.
A method of allowing the user to operate the data broadcast window shown in FIG. 2 with the remote controller buttons will be described below. There are two methods: a method of allowing the user to move an active area with cursor buttons and confirm the area with an OK button; and a method of allowing the user to directly confirm the area with four color buttons (blue, red, green, and yellow). For actions indicated by four boxes displayed in the lower portion of the window, when the user wants to move the window to the top window, he moves the cursor to the blue box and presses the OK button. Alternatively, the user directly presses the blue button.
When the user wants to move the window to the next page, the user executes “green: next” on the window. However, if a recipe is described in four pages, that is, the first page describing the ingredients as indicated by page 1/4 and the remaining three pages describing the instructions, the user cannot grasp the contents without viewing all of the four pages.
A print content shown in FIG. 4 is prepared separately. When the user executes “yellow: print” on the data broadcast window in FIG. 2, he can transmit as a print content detailed recipe information explaining the ingredients for one portion and the instructions to a printer. In this case, the contents having the four pages on the window in FIG. 2 can be printed altogether on one A4 sheet (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-158979 (“patent document 1”)).
In the time zone of a digital broadcast program, the user uses the remote controller to directly input a print instruction for the print contents supplied during broadcasting the digital broadcast program and print the print contents. If the reception apparatus can be automatically started at the time of broadcasting a preset program, extract only the print contents from the reception data, and transmit the contents to the printer, print can be executed in the form of a print reservation (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-186449 (“patent document 2”)).
As a print reservation setting method, presence/absence information of a print content may be added to program information of an EPG referred to at the time of making a recording reservation. In this case, automatic printing of a program having a print content can be reserved at the broadcasting time in the same method as in a recording reservation using the EPG (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-297346 (“patent document 3”)).
The EPG stands for an Electric Program Guide. The user can always obtain latest television program information with the EPG and can search for a program title which is conveniently used for the recording reservation of a serial drama. The user can perform a reservation operation by simply clicking a program list indicated on the screen. The user can reserve recording of any program using three types of EPGs, “terrestrial wave data broadcasting”, “Internet”, and “visit place (cell phone/Internet) at any time and at any place.
In a PUSH distribution service in which the above print content is superposed on data broadcast and the resultant content is transmitted, repeated Carousel transmission from a broadcast station contains the print content. For this reason, the restriction of a data size in one-loop transmission and the data transfer using a broadcast wave lower the transfer rate. The state-of-the-art technique can cope with only a print content in a small data size mainly including a text in consideration of the performance of the data transfer processing of the reception apparatus itself.
A PULL distribution service described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-091726 (“patent document 4”) can eliminate the demerit of the PUSH distribution using the broadcast wave. More specifically, the storage destination of the print content is set in an arbitrary server on the Internet, and the data can be downloaded via the network. Any reception apparatus connected to the Internet can obtain the print content without using a broadcast wave.
A print instruction from the reception apparatus to a printer apparatus can be made by directly notifying the printer apparatus of the URL of the data storage destination. The printer apparatus downloads the data serving as the print content from the notified URL and executes printing, thereby further decreasing the processing load on the reception apparatus (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-091726 (“patent document 4”)).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-158979
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-186449
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-297346
Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-091726